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Page 129
they want? Could they be mad enough to desire to take revenge upon her for the hurts done them by others? Alinor stared down at her mare's braided mane to hide her expression. She hoped her captors were too busy disarming her men-at-arms to notice her quickened breathing and the slight tremor of her hands. Then her tension eased. Ransom! That was what they wantedransom.
"Cedric," Alinor said, "ask if we may go back so that I can see to my man's hurts, if he be still alive."
Cedric's guttural question sparked an argument which Alinor followed with interest, although she kept her eyes on her saddle so that the men would not guess she understood them. There were two differing partiesa bolder one, which had suggested abducting her and was now willing to go back for the wounded man-at-arms, and a more timid one, which had opposed her abduction in the first place and now only wished to retreat to the safety of the woods with all speed. The more cautious group was now in the ascendant. The whole party was put into motion and hustled toward the shelter of the wood, where they would be concealed from the eyes of any chance traveler.
Soon they stopped again at a place that gave evidence of previous habitation. At first, Alinor promised herself that she would have her huntsman's head off for overlooking a nest of thieves so close to the town and keep. In a few minutes, however, she realized that this was no camp, merely a place the group had stopped to rest and probably to wait for news of prey. It was almost full dark now. Alinor wondered whether they would stay the night, but it was quickly apparent that was not their purpose. Alinor's men were pulled from their horses, stripped of their armor and tied hand and foot to the sorriest of the beasts the outlaws had been riding.
Another argument then ensued, the cautious party desiring to leave Alinor alone and warning that laying

 
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